Textile revivalist Suraiya Hassan, who is 84 years old, has been working tirelessly for the betterment of the weaver community for four decades now. So she’s happy that the government has declared August 7 as National Handloom Day. Suraiya says, “It’s a good initiative as new designs and patterns of the weavers will be appreciated by everyone. The weavers will get to represent themselves and showcase their talent. Even customers will have a varied choice, while selecting designs, be it for saris, furnishing or garments. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.”
Suraiya set up a small weaving unit near Gachibowli in 1982, when her uncle Abid Hasan Safrani moved to Hyderabad after his retirement. “I was already working in the handloom department in Delhi, but my uncle asked me to continue my work here instead. During that time, it was difficult for me to find good weavers, as most of them had left the country during Partition. So I started training widows in weaving,” Suraiya recalls.
Today, her unit has 16 women, two at each loom, who work on a Nizami-Persian brocade called Himroo and Paithani borders. Her store directly supports 600 families from various villages in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
“You can weave only about three inches a day. Once a person has started working on a loom, no one else can take over because each hand’s technique is unique and special. Then you can feel the difference in the fabric. I like to avoid that. So it takes about two to three months for the fabric to be ready.”
Suraiya’s first cousin Dominic Hassan, who plays an active role in the functioning of the unit, feels that unless the government pumps in money, it won’t make much difference to the weavers. “The biggest problem that they face is finance. The government has to supply them with the best quality of yarn at subsidised rates. If you give them the best colours, you’ll immediately notice the quality of their weave,” Dominic says.
Another issue that Dominic is worried about is the Mangalgiri fabric going extinct. “The Mangalgiri fabric moves very fast on the loom. Those saris are wonderful and look extremely rich. But the bifurcation has led to many problems for our weavers. The weavers have lost their land and there’s a bit of unrest there,” Dominic says.
